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The Repugs are right - our Dems are weaklings.
who does the White House dislike more.. the "left of the left, internet left fringe" or the teabaggers?
right now I'm not sure.
someone who parrots the conventional wisdom of the Beltway Punditocracy. Given your headline one would think that this was a direct quote from the Administration sending a message. That is not only unfair that you chose to do it that way, but it is also counter productive.
Gay Rights is in the top tier of my political agenda and I'm not even Gay. When Clinton agreed to DADT that was when he lost me. Obama is not at that place yet and playing this game does not help the cause.
You have become a demagogue.
I read this post and went looking for the money quote where they said that stuff about gays and all I get is some vague statement about opposition on the left in general, paraphrased heavily by John Harwood who was quoting some unnamed source.
Do you know how mad it makes me that you are trying to get me angry over something only to find out you didn't have any evidence it happened?
This is maddening. Maybe next time you can post about the truth of "death panels" and question Obama's birth certificate --what you posted today has as much validity.
Really, it doesn't surprise me - Obama spoke at HRC and the administration likely views that organization or Barney Frank as the "gay mainstream".
If HRC really does represent the views of most LGBTs is debatable.
You're right. Everything is going very well, and I'm just delusional. Clearly there's no pattern of behavior in the Obama administration to diss gays and progressives more generally.
So this is the sloppy way you win arguments, you make shit up.
What a disappointment.
You are being fed the exact same song and dance that has enslaved black people to the Democratic party for eons. Wake up!
Look at Health Care reform... nothing substantive will happen because they are all in the pocket of the health care industry. They are too worried about reelection then enacting real reform, but they blame Repubs.
Honestly, I can't believe anyone now in charge would officially use the "pajamas" bit and I suspect Harwood will get his knuckles smacked.
Because how f'king insulting is that and the "Internet left fringe?"
I'll tell you how insulting:
Vote-stopping insulting.
Although, my $ follows where my intended vote leads and both are looking for another party...and an Independent Party helmed by Howard Dean would probably get both.
So the people in this nation who are being treated like second-class citizens aren't going to be taken overly-serious by the White House because the country is so politically divided? Man, oh man....
That's the way it is in Chicago.
And to clarify a couple of earlier posts, Mr. Harwood did in fact used to write for the Wall Street Journal.
This willful ignorance is quite disconcerting.
Comments like this just proves correct whoever Hardwood is quoting. There is a segment of rich, mostly white, gays and lesbians who apparently only supported the President in order to advance their own interests and to do so quickly so as to be of the highest priority.
As a gay man, I respectfully say to you that you are part of the problem! It's blame blame blame Obama yet you say nothing about the Congress. A Congress I might add that looks like you while the President does not. A Congress that must agree to the change we and the President wish to see made. Why are these people left off the hook and we only bash the President? Should we not be all up, into, and around the halls of Congress? We're so brave in our threats against the first minority President, yet timid when it comes to taking on the old guard in Congress holding us back? We have not met the President's challenge to ourselves. Why?
Yes the President said to challenge him and that is something every citizen should do and do constructively. It is not only our right, but duty as citizens of this nation to criticize and to insist that we all are equal under the law. But the President also challenged us and funny how people forget that part, for example he said:
"But as I've said from the day we began this journey, the change we need won't come from government alone. It will come from each of us doing our part in our own lives and our own communities. It will come from each of us looking after ourselves, our families, and our fellow citizens......There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face...The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it's been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick..."
So he told us he needed us to do more than just agitate for ourselves. We have not met that challenge, in fact we have ignored it completely. He told us that everything we wanted to change would not get done in one term. Our response has been to vow to work to make sure he only gets one term and put a Republican back in power.
We can do better. We can insist on our rights without injuring the President politically. Letting the Republicans take over because we are mad after only 9 months of Obama is immature, short-sighted and I assure you that many of us in the community will not be dictated to by those elites and those would-be elites in the community.Yes elites because all you talk about is "Your money", when most of our community is not well off. We will once again work hard and support this President because the alternative is far far worse.
The democrats, under Obama anyway, scorn their base.
Well, red, the above comment pretty much nullifies you as being anyone worth listening to. But thanks for playing.
Again, thanks for playing. amateur.
I said it before, and I'll say it again - Obama revealed who he was during the election but most people chose to ignore it, and believe that he stood for something.
Why the gay community (or Jewish, or female, or intelligent) ever believed him, I'll never know. That was one of the first things I didn't like about him - his South Carolina anti-gay filled roadshow, which is why I began to distance myself from him. It was all there...
In fact, as someone pointed out elsewhere, Obama shared the same belief with Carrie Prejean and she was attacked - but Obama was elected Pres...
Obama was everything to everyone, nothing to no one.
Hell, I hope the morons do it but I'm afraid they are not morons. Back to the end of the line for you.
On no, wait, you're a fucking idiot.
It's a looser and this crowd knows it.
No "looser" than yours, closet case.
Nevertheless, you aint going to win this one and if this sorry crowd can't get it done it aint happening. End of story.
And since they do contribute significantly to our national security in their work in the military it makes no sense to kick them out in terms of what is good for the country. So who does this policy serve. Not the country, clearly. So who? What is the justification for keeping it? Unit cohesion my ass. What is the justification? At its core, it is a policy based on certain religious prejudices and as such has no place in the military policies of the United States of America. Now's the time. Do it!
http://www.inlookout.com/wp-content/images/frin...
Who ended slavery? The Republicans did.
Who gave women the right to vote? Republicans did.
Who passed Johnson's civil rights acts? Republicans.
Who gave draftable 18 year olds the right to vote? Guess.
It may be an anethema for the LBGT community to support the Republicans, but it's your only valid choice. They are the only ones who will eventually listen and respond to what you perceive as your needs.
The Democrats won't. Why? Because the LGBT community is more valuable to the Democrats as an aggrieved group with which they can stir up votes. Once they give you what you want, there's a risk you'd start looking at your politics beyond your sexuality and they risk losing you as a voter. So they'll continue to give you lip-service, demonize Republicans and keep you "on the plantation".
I understand that you feel like the Republicans won't give you what you want, but look at history. . .If you make your case sensibly and rationally without the hysterics, drama and acting out, you can convince Republicans that civil rights for LGBT individuals is the right thing to do and then . . . as history shows . . . the Republicans will do right by you.
BUT. . . If you keep demonizing Republicans, if you keep acting like we are evil, we will continue to respond in kind, because we may be conservative, but we aren't stupid and we're not going to sit at the table with people who are insulting us, demonizing us and demanding that we be the only ones to compromise.
The Democrats want to keep you as a part of their base, one of their "constituencies", one of their special interest groups. The Republicans look at politics far differently and history shows, that we'll do the right thing, even if it costs us.
We lost Lincoln for doing the right thing. After we did right by women, we lost again. We were thrown out of the House and Senate in large numbers after we voted for civil rights for African Americans, and after Nixon gave 18 year olds the right to vote, they promptly attacked.
We understand that hard choices require sacrifice, but that's never stopped us from making them before.
Anyone in your community who stays with the Democrats after this betrayal, is simply foolish. Mark these words. They are stabbing you in the back now, and they'll try to make nice right before the 2010 elections, and they'll promise you the moon but only after the 2010 elections. But then, when many of your community does side with them again, they'll be promptly stabbed in the back again. Rinse and repeat for 2012 and beyond.
WAKE UP!
GLBTs are (rightly) afraid that the Dems will do nothing for them. But they're also afraid that if the right-wing of the GOP has its way, existing rights will be removed.
Obviously the solution is to support the Log Cabin group, those who are sane. Make sure there is an alternative, so the Dems can't say "Who are you going to vote for? The Republicans?"
The Left doesn't see it that way though.
The dominant group are economic conservatives--they have to find a leader--but that is what is driving opposition to health care and spending and it was what was missing during the Bush years.
At this point, I'm not for supporting either party. They don't exist for average Americans anymore. Neither one of them really support equality and civil rights as long as someone thinks it might cost a little more money to expand those rights. You get to a certain level in politics and they are ALL compromised by money. Very few of them are truth tellers and make decisions at the expense of their corporate overlord's on behalf of the average American's they represent. Our nation is a plutocracy at the federal level.
All politicians care about one thing- the next election. Everything they do is built around that. They tell you what you want to here but it's all a load of crap. Most will at least try to pretend but if your are paying attention you begin to see the patterns. Obama is one of the first I've seen in a very long time that seems to have a short memory. Either that or he really thinks you are all stupid. He contradicts himself sometimes in the same speech even. Rachel Maddow pointed this out once. He is worse then Cheney in this regard. It's like he forgets that everything is recorded. I can't believe that with all this evidence, there are still people who can't see through this.
Forget it, they're dummies--they ought to just save the comments from this blog so they won't have to write it 20 years from now.
One thing that you did not mention--Dick Cheney is the only nationally elected politician who has come out in favor of states legalizing gay marriage.
I mean, even your name is pathetic. You idolize a drug addicted, hypocritical child molestor and yet you don't feel any disgust. Really amazing how far people can delude themselves.
You are your ilk are played like fiddles by rejects like Lush Limpballs and crybaby doughboy Beck. They get you all riled up about socialism, or commies, or whatever your trigger word is this week.. things you can't even spell, much less are educated about.
And you're proud of it. That's the real funny part.
1> Everybody that worked got a tax cut under GWB--rich, middle class and poor--you had to work.
2>I don't care about abortion but I don't know of any pol that promised to overturn it--too hard to do in a short period of time.
3> Not sure who you are calling a child molester--I think you better find a doctor. Retard. And that's former drug addict to you.
4> We don't vote for talk show hosts.
It' not hate radio just because you happen to hate it anymore than this blog is filled with hateful speech.
A nuisance, but a Good Thing.
... would be BrooklynRider?
The Republican will tell you to your face that he's going to fuck you over before you vote.
Other than that, there's no real difference between them. You're not scaring anybody.
Don't blame the GLBTQ crowd if they run the other way en mass. The WH Obama team apparently a terminal case of Hubris. Until they wake up to their madnes and folly and seek professional help, they will certainly lose in 2012. If so, they will be to blame not the people who did not vote for them. Votes in the second term are earned, not given away.
The Democrats have done NOTHING. Even the ENDA Bill isn't anything new - it's been sitting around for quite a while.
The closer reality is that the GOP finds some true reformers in its midst and sees the future. They can once again become the party of Teddy Roosevelt and undertake some of the greatest reforms this country has ever seen (and desperately needs).
You purely partisan post is EXACTLY the kind of thing we can expect from the wimpy Dem lock-steppers who are too frightened to venture out on their own to create a force of their own to influence and change the ENTIRE political structure and not just exert tremndous pressure within one of the corporate owned systems in our country.
Democrats are NOT the answer. It is very clear the the LGBT community has the votes and the deep pockets to influence the outcome of elections. Rather than trying to "influence" what happens in a party, it seems we could be much mire successful are a centrifical force to create a new Progressive party.
Honestly, why do we want to be involved in the Democratic Party? So we can be pandered to during the primaries? Be urged to get out to vote on election day? Put to work canvasing and at phone banks? Only to be screwed once the election is over and our newly elected official turns to the rioght and takes up a role as corporate shill.
Get real. You didn't "grow up" - you sold out. You bought into the whole system that still screws you. You've just finally learned how to lube up before getting fucked hard by a demonic entity.
Ginny in CO
Yet another reason, along with Anderson Cooper and Terry Moran, of why the term "journalist" is an epithet.
Fuck you Harwood. I got some "left fringe" for ya right here bitch.
The best action we can undertake is coordinated civil disobedience. Not little actions, but huge actions that fuck things up enough that the media cannot possibly ignore it.
Militancy isn't necessarily about violence, but it is about strategy, coordination, and movement. Marching on Washington is old school. They think we are sitting in our pajamas? Let's come out in the streets angry, focused, vocal, and demanding. Create a roar that wll shake foundations. It is time for every member of the LGBT community to forever shed the image of a cowering pussy pleading and whining.
Don't just sit there. DO SOMETHING!
==================================
Here we go again with the "governing is hard work." The election, last time I looked was nearly a landslide win in favor of Obama. It seems to me that we seem to know an hell of a lot more that the White House cowards that hide behind anonymous statements. Speaking of puerile comments, this was one. There is a huge homophobe in the White House and he or they need to be called to account for their insulting statements and yes, fired. These children do not need to be bending Obama's ear with this tripe.
Georgie is gone, so in 2010, and especially in 2012, national amnesia will be in full force and the White House will own the state of the union. They will never have the far right, but the center, by its nature, is up for grabs.
20% does not win elections.
Perhaps they need to get off their asses.
Well you see, they won't do anything of the sort, because HRC agrees with the White House on this and thinks we're naive and irrelevant, and undeserving of a "seat at the table."
The best, first, and likely last good political chance for our community to accomplish the goals it has sought for decades is before us, and this cowardly administration and our craven, establishment, so-called "rights" groups are squandering this historic opportunity.
As is this administration.
Sorry, but we arent equal to the teabaggers. If Obama wants to alienate his base so the other side wont hate him as much, I hope he enjoys unemployment in 2013.
Barney Frank's slam at the march (which I largely agree with, though I wish he'd worded it more tactfully) was far more vehement than anything the White House is saying. And you'd be hard-pressed to convince anyone that Barney Frank has it in for gay people.
So get a sense of perspective, will ya?
At this point, the tool that's needed is heavy lobbying, withholding of donations from politicians and organizations the hinder equality and sending money to ones who promote it effectively.
That said, there's a certain tunnelvision to most of the comments on this page. The president's job is to focus on the running of the country. If he's not dropping everything else to focus exclusively on our issues, I say "thank goodness for that."
Change is coming. I sincerely believe ENDA will pass during Obama's presidency. I believe DOMA and DADT will fall during Obama's presidency. But these do not have nearly the extreme urgency of the key issues in past LGBT marches (decriminalization, AIDS funding, etc.) So just accept that change is always slower than its promoters want it to be.
What is it with you people and this insane perception that, if Obama works on equal rights, NOTHING ELSE WILL BE WORKED ON.
He can juggle the economy, 2 wars, and 500 other things all at the same time.. but sparing a glance at equal rights somehow stops anything else from being worked on? Why? What is the basis for this assertion?
Get a better argument. Please. This one is embarrassing.
Barney Frank was absolutely right in what he said, and if there's one thing about that guy it's that he's never been known for pulling his punches.
Because you posted crap.
Were you there?
?
Have you been to any other marches in DC??
If so you could not possibly have typed your post without a:) lying or b:) being a fool.
It sure looks like there were at LEAST 200k people there, from the few pictures I have seen, you have lowballed the quantity the same proportion (one order of magnitude) as the teabaggers exaggerated theirs but in reverse.
Do you want respect and pensive attention directed to your posts or are you just a masochist or a pathetic narcissist?
The event was plainly organized poorly and timed problematically, yet the event itself that actually occurred - what of that?
You were not there, were you?
Why would ANYBODY take what Barney fucking Frank has to say to heart? The man is an apologist whore.
The point is, the marchers represent themselves, not "the gay community" as a whole. Unlike the first three LGBT Marches on Washington, this one was set up by fiat: there was no grassroots organizing to build consensus or even to find out whether people thought a march was necessary, or what its demands should be. Given that, comments about this march are comments *only* about this specific demonstration. They do not and cannot refer to LGBT equality issues as a whole.
it's a good thing.
I wonder if at any point they really take into consideration what they are doing to themselves. Many in the base are well beyond the who are you going to vote for stage (hint-not you if you don't start getting your shit together and not any incumbent that is busy fucking me over while calling themselves Democrats). I guess not.
How's it feel to be both slapped in the face and stabbed in the back at the same time?
So HRC and toothless organizations that give Obama cover while receiving nothing in return = gays they like
Gays and their allies marching on Washington for real equal rights = fringe internet leftists
gotcha.
Southwerk
Rahm?
The White House is consistetly nastier, tougher and more belligerent to the folks who elected Obama than they are to the lying, gun-toting racist lunatics called the GOP.
oN the other hand:
'Rep. Barney Frank, an openly gay member of Congress, said the marchers should be lobbying their lawmakers. He said the demonstrations are simply "an emotional release" that do little to pressure Congress.
"The only thing they're going to be putting pressure on is the grass," the Massachusetts Democrat said Friday.'
Unfortunately, Barney is right. Marches don't do squat.
Unless FOX organizes them and they are full of redneck morons calling for military coups in the name of the Constitution. Then they matter, and force everyone to tread lightly for fear of offending these wonderful folks.
Exactly! More over gays aren't the only one Obama considers the extreme left fringe. He also groups us with the protesters at World Bank Summit in Pittsbergh where he had the cops bashing those protesters. Another gang crazy lefties that he finds objectionable is the extremists who want a strong public option but would much rather have one-payer, universal health care. And those who want real reform in the financial industry. Etc., etc., etc. Meanwhile, his bosum buddies are the right wingers and Republicans who show up at his public appearances carrying assault rifles.
Know what? I think he is a big coward, terrified of the right and willing to bash his allies to try to appease the Republicans. He might as well wear a bull’s-eye on his chest to try to prove to them that he is truly bipartisan. I’m sure they won’t shoot if they decide he is one of them.
So a straight congressman in Iowa is part of the internet fringe? again, w.t.f?!!
Is that more left than 'the left of the left'?
Anyway, even in Harwood's words, they are not referring to ALL gays as the fringe. They are referring to John Aravosis as left fringe, they are referring to folks like David Sirota as left fringe, or someone like Andrew Sullivan. This was not a blanket statement folks.
I always get dressed first before I read or write on the blogs.
Can they be any more out of touch with Normal American's?
BTW, just got polled on Question 1.
This is one of those opportunities. If Harwood is wrong or lying, let the White House publicly correct him and demonstrate its commitment to us. If he is write, let's finally recognize 'our place' at the Obama table and move on from there.
Frankly, I'm pretty disgusted. The relief I feel that Obama isn't Bush is tempered by the fact the Obama takes us for granted.
How does that equal divided?
This is closely divided? This is an environment in which Democrats are going to have to recognize that we can't get the things done that the president promised us?
Maybe it's time for some White House advisers to get out of their pajamas and read a newspaper once in a while. They might find out that we actually won the election.
This governing from a position of weakness and fear "thing" is getting old, fast.
Isn't it always Rule #1 to prove your bona fides to the Village to punch a hippy in the face? And if it's a gay hippy even BETTAH?
- Tibetan Saying
This march walked right into a well laid trap. Unbelievable that HRC would help to set it. And unbelievable that this Whitehouse would use such Rovian tactics against the gay community.
Or is it all too believable?
There are significantly more gay people than viewers of FOX. FOX reaches about 3 million people. Even if there's just 5% of the population as gay over the 1 in 10 figure, that's 16 million people. And many of the marchers today were straight allies. The White House needs to wake up.
They've been trying to distance themselves from it, marginalize it, and even handed off health care reform to blue dogs and republicans OWNED by the very interests they had to reform, and amazingly THEY did their best to dump it too!
The official White House position is that they don't really have a position. It changes day to day. Their ACTUAL position is laid out in their ACTIONS.
A month ago he was trying to belittle the public option, and his spokesbitches (including rahm) were out denigrating anybody who wanted a strong public option as the "left of the left"
Where have you been?
Hypocritical on what "actions" are? Actions are concrete tangible steps resulting in concrete tangible results. Not SPEECHES. Actions. Legislation. Movement. SOMETHING OTHER THAN HOT AIR.
Rahm just runs around doing and saying whatever he wants, totally disconnected from the larger administration message or strategy?
That's your argument? LOL
No, not ridiculous at ALLLLLllllll
*rubs bridge of nose*
Where on THIS PLANET is it, that when an underling says or does something vastly stupid, it does not reflect badly on his boss.
The man at the top is responsible for every thing that happens under him. If his underlings do something wrong, then it reflects on him.
This applies ESPECIALLY in politics. Obama sets the tone. Anything his spokesbitches say is part of the message he wants put forth.
2. As for the WH source staffers or Harwoods "source" they should really start looking for precinct and ward feet on the street now because a lot of us left fringe types will be at home next round...2010 and 2012 no matter who the GOP puts up.
3. the alleged "sources" really need to update the old resume because they will be like a lot of folks now in this country..unemployed in a couple of years. Can you say 10%?
4. as for Rahm...well you little fuck...you will never be House speaker, you will never be in the legislature again, you will be and a lot of the WH brain trust will be unemployed.
And the whole pajama thing is a GOP description...thats odd coming from a supposed Democrat WH doncha think?
He was commenting on the sort of protest that emerges from nattering on the blogosphere. And this is certainly a blogosphere march. Some of the most effective, well-known, longstanding LGBT activists in this country had no idea the march was happening as of a week ago, because they're not on Twitter or Facebook and they don't generally read blogs.
So no, he wasn't commenting on LGBT people as a whole or gay activism as a whole or LGBT equality as a whole.
I recently went to a dinner with several gay people. The conversation turned to politics. I said I thought Obama was a terrible president and had not done anything for us LGBT. I was greeted with condescension and derision as if I were the senile aunt at Thanksgiving dinner. As much as I want to think that all LGBT are pissed at and disappointed with Obama, we ARE the very small LGBT minority who are upset with him.
This, in a nutshell, is why I think HRC, or at least its current leadership, cannot be allowed to represent the gay community at the table. Joe has got to go.
The appropriate follow-up to have asked her would have been whether she thought that legally married same-sex couples in states OTHER than her state should be given the federal benefits of marriage in the same way as hetero couples are. And to do so, DOMA must be repealed whether her state has legalized same-sex marriage or not. Her state's voters should not be allowed to HARM legally married same-sex couples in OTHER states. PERIOD.
Obama and his supporters need to get real. He is losing support by the day and he can't afford to piss off and lose his base. The 2012 election is Obama's to lose. Keep this type of condescending behaviour up and I will put money on the bet that he will lose big time in 2012.
How does that not include the gay people that the entire story is about, and who are part of this group of "the left" who are complaining that Obama hasn't done enough?
Obama is a liar. Those claiming that the legislative process "takes time" seem to have forgotten the speed with which the PATRIOT Act and TARP corporate bailouts were passed.
Right now, the Republicans are not in the equation. We have a government and a Congressional majority that ran one of the most deceptive primary campaigns in modern history. They ran as progressives. They ran as liberals. They ran as conscientious Americans ready to push the agenda through the gridlock.
The reality is that they ARE the gridlock. Republicans = Democrats in initiatives and they are nothing more than corporate shills.
Barney Frank is a perfect example of a man who has totally used the LGBT community. He is no less a scumbag than Tom DeLay - and that's not because he threw the LGBT community under the bus. It is because he was one of the key congressman on the Finance Committee that was charged with overseeing the Financial Sector as it was given free reign to destroy this country.
Personally, I think that if the Progressive community in general, and the LGBT community in particular, are not absolutely fired up to the point of revolt against these tyrants, then you are brain dead and have very little practical value as a human being.
I look at those people we refer to as the "wingnuts", "teabaggers", "birthers", etc. and while some of their theories and arguments are out right kooky, I feel a strong kinship with their anger. I'm as pissed as any of them. They are itchin' for a fight with the administration and this hijacked government of ours.
What are gays doing? Letting "Uncle Faggot Tom" Joe Solomnese apologize to Obama on behalf of all gay people? Letting Barney Frank tell us that our voices and actions are useless? Letting blindly partisan Democrats tell us that Obama and the Dems are our best choice? It's a lot of propaganda and B.S.
We're talking about legal rights. Legal representation. Legal protection. All in a time when the very notion of what "American" means is being challenged by the corporate takeover of our government infrastructure.
This doesn't have to be a long "struggle". Get the notion of "struggle" out of your heads. We are not some lame or handicapped people without a full range of ability. If we want rights, then we go out and get rights.
Act-Up had it right. Go and sit in busy city intersections at rush hour. Create massive traffic jams on freeways by organizing a massive traffic crawl. Chain yourselves tp public buildings. Shoot out surveillence cameras.
If you already bought into the fact that protesters at the G20 conferences are "anarchists", you've been duped. Peple are fighting for freedom from these governments and international cartels and corporations. There is a very real "Us vs. Them" going on. "Them" are the people with the power, with the rights, with the cushy jobs, with the money, with the media, and with the corporations and big business. "Us" are everyone else. It is up to us to break the back of these pricks and it is up to us to thrust a third-party into the politics of America. Thrust it like a dagger and begin to surgically remove the cancers in our society - as much assholes on the right like Rep. Virginia Foxx as assholes on the left like Rep. Barney Frank.
Screw the people that talk about "Democrats" setting up a circular firing squad. WE are NOT THEM. We have been rejected by Democrats, by Republicans, by the Judicial System, and by the Congress and Executive Branch. We, the LGBT community, are not a part of them in any way or shape.
Money must stop flowing to them - ALL MONEY. Cancel memberships. Unsubscribe from mailing lists. Write letters of rebuke. Ultimately, we need to stop the discourse and start the disobedience. If you are not feeling a revolutionary spirit at this point, then you're not quite understanding how much you have been marginalized by a government and president that have dismissed you as "fringe".
Joe Solomnese and HRC should be incapacitated - period. They cannot be allowed to run interference between the REAL LGBT community and the government. They are not the negotiating arm of the LGBT community.
If you are not fired up for a fight, then you are not an informed citizen and YOU are "fringe" of the decorative type. Our civil rights are the easiest things this government can accomplish. We are talking about legal definitions being clarified or changed. Nothing more. There is no HUGE process involved. The existing laws simply need to have the language amended to be genderless - period. Don't be duped and don't be a crybaby sitting around wondering "why" no one will help us. While we pray for change, they pray we will go away and disappear.
Whose fucking side are YOU on?
It must really bust Rahm's chops that his cult of personality plans are thwarted because some people on the left aren't on their backs counting ceiling tiles (or opening their checkbooks) whenever Obama utters a few frilly words.
Back to ol' "they just don't understand how complex it is" tripe mixed in with the "closely divided" country excuse, I see. What? Running dry of crowded plates?
The vandalism occurred after HRC’s Annual National Dinner fundraiser where President Obama spoke. This was the most publicized dinner HRC has held because of the President’s appearance. Obama’s speech was televised live on Cspan and also covered by CNN.
Today is also the National Equality March where thousands of LGBT people will be marching for equal rights.
LGR will be following this story and will provide updates from the police as they come in.
Update
At 4:30om EST today a group claimed responsibility by leaving a comment here on this post. Calling the act “glamdalism” the group states in their message that “a crew of radical queer and allied folks armed with pink and black paint and glitter grenades. Beside the front entrance and the inscribed mission statement (of the HRC building) now reads a tag, “Quit leaving queers behind.”
http://lezgetreal.com/?p=22182
PS Can read the full message left by the protesters at the above liink
We need more than his words to get all worked up.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/200908090011
It doesn't make sense if Harwood was describing the White House attitude that Obama would have given the speech he gave on Saturday night. Why risk the controversy if you don't value the group? It also doesn't make sense that even if the White House did think that way that somebody would say something that stupid to the media.
Its Sunday and the part timers are filling in. I'll wait for tomorrow to see how this plays out before, based on the word of one poor correspondent, I'll be as angry at the White House as this would make me.
"First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you."
http://facebook.com/whitehouse
don't forget your fringes
Hillary has continued to support the causes she always supported, Women's Rights & Human Rights. You would have a knowledgeable, experienced president supporting your cause, if you hadn't been so quick to denigrate other's views and voices.
If you hadn't gorged yourself on Kool-aid, you might have seen the emperor had no record and no accomplishments. You might have realized if he was willing to throw women under the bus, gays would follow eventually.
Those bitter knitters, they would have supported you too. They were the true liberals and progressives. They weren't fooled by the smoke and mirrors since they'd been around the block before. You bought the show and the speeches and it hasn't gotten you any of the things you thought were promised.
It has happened before. You need to care about all people's rights, not just yours. You don't throw others under the bus and expect you'll be treated differently. A famous poem speaks to this:
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.
So she's a complete retard or a liar.. but concerned about people's rights? I wonder if she was concerned about the rights of 100,000 she helped murder.
Please. Your candidate lost, and ran a shitty campaign. She's also a total idiot or a liar. Stop crying.
I hope he succeeds for all of our sakes. But it is going to take a lot of work to get him to do anything a liberal would approve of. He seems to worship st. ronnie.
You can argue with yourself now, you're not worth my time.
Harwood quoted (or paraphrased - same thing) what a WH advisor told him, and John quoted verbatim what Harwood said in the video.
Talk about shoot the messenger....
What a dishonest headline. First off, its not ":the White House" - as if this were some official pronouncement from the administration. Its one anonymous staffer of unknown status. And that person did not call "gays" anything - he referred to the groups demonstrating today - a very tiny subset of gays.
This is a thoroughly disreputable title and post.
"The country is "closely divided"? "
Yes of course it is. Electoral votes dont measure that, as you well know...what kind of a nonsense argument is that? Obama got 53% of the vote, and his approval is still in the low fifties. Generic congressional polling has the two parties within 2 pts of eachother.
Conned is a better word than fooled...
http://www.regretmyvote.com
Obama is just a pretty face with a good speaking ability saying words written for his teleprompter.
Don't believe me? Start going over what he said last year and the year before and then what he has done since his election.
It is clear enough to me and my friends and even some of our kids.
Papa Ray
Just sayin'.
Obama isn't grounded in his convictions enough to stand up to Pelosi and Reid, who you may have noticed, do want to continue the same stupid politics as usual. Obama is their little puppet. Face it, you got a wimp with no convictions, no spine.
We tried to tell you but you told us to STFU and fall in line. We tried to tell you that Hillary was the one who could stand up to any crap that was thrown at her and throw some back. You have to understand where we've been to have a clear idea of where you want to go. Obama's White House is just making it up as they go because they don't have a clue what they are doing.
It turns out that you need more than marketing experience to run the free world.
The next time Obots, you STFU, sit down and let the adults handle it.
Hillary, who was "misled" into voting for the Iraq war that butchered 100,000. Misled into something the entire rest of the planet knew was a total lie.
So she's a complete retard or a liar.. but concerned about people's rights? I wonder if she was concerned about the rights of 100,000 she helped murder.
Please. Your candidate lost, and ran a shitty campaign. She's also a total idiot or a liar. Stop crying.
You don't see him fulfilling his promises to end the war, do you?
You would have had a better chance with Hillary. But she gave it to you honestly, she didn't tell you what you wanted to hear.
Maybe you'll learn from your mistake. Or maybe you'll repeat them. Depends on whether you grow up.
You can't stand criticism, neither can John. Admitting you were wrong about both Hillary and Obama is the first step. Neither was as bad or as good as you thought. Next time examine the facts, not your wishes. Look at the record of accomplishments, not the claims.
She helped butcher 100,000 people, then lied about how she was involved, and then made up stories later.
They're using the same tactics from the primaries -- their fingers in the ears, eyes tightly closed, "LALA LA LA... I CAN"T HEAR YOU AND YOU"RE ALL RACISTS ANYWAY... LA LA LA LA"
Gridlock, Don't worry. Mommy will be here soon and kiss it all better. Obama really loves you. He's just playing 11 dimensional chess. It will all work out. He's on your side.
I am getting quite tired of the white gays and half breeded gays slamming Obama after he has only been in office for MONTHS. Go check out the black blogs and you will see that there is a true divide in who supports Obama and who doesn't.
I'm not gay. I'm trans.
I, like the President, am multiethnic -- just so happens I'm even more so than he is.
And so you are aware, Liza, using halfbreed as a slur -- like you did -- is racist.
You make it worse later by saying "real" Blacks.
Well, listen real close you insignificant wretch: I *am* real Black. No more and no less than you are.
And for you to say that is, in and of itself, criticism of the President because you just said *he's* not black enough, and hat makes it racism yet again.
So if you want to talk about being tired of "white gays" and "half breeded gays" slamming him after he's been in office for only a few months, then perhaps you should STOP DOING IT YOURSELF, you asinine piece of racist trash.
Thank you, and have a most unpleasant day :)
I have never slammed Obama but I am slamming the white and half-breeded gays because they never were in his corner to begin with. I support gay rights but from my view, he really doesn't owe these people anything.
Again, he has been in office for months.
I was really proud that we, as a country, could elect Obama. I had high hopes for his administration.
My disappointment isn't so much with the lack of progress as it is that the administration seems to be paying lip service to LGBTs on the one hand, but going out of their way to be offensive to LGBTs on the other.
After the Rick Warren thing, the brief where homosexuality was compared to bestiality and the general tone I see from the administration when they're talking to the general public - and not directly to a group of LGBTs - I'm not impressed.
I'd be saying the same thing regardless of Obama's race.
I said the same things about Clinton when he ran away from gay issues during his administration - don't forget that the last March on Washington, in '93, was during the Clinton administration.
If leaders don't give a consistent, clear message on the issues and assure their constituents they are addressing their concerns, they get called on it. It's as simple as that.
Again -- you question his blackness. Stop being a racist.
As for the rest, you want to derail things and go here, well, I'm good with that. You are the one who inserted race where it wasn't involved.
'm simply pointing out to tyou that when you use slurs like halfbreed agaist others, you are saying that is is an insult to be multi-ethnic -- to be me, or Obama.
You don't get a pass on that racism. No one does. I've had enough of it from all sides my whole life, and I'm not going to tolerate it anymore.
So you *did* question his blackness, and then you "gave him more" because he married Michelle.
And if you think saying that he doesn't owe them anything, when they supported him and voted for him en masse, is akin to saying he doesn't owe Black people anything, or Democrats anything.
Its wrong, period. He's supposed to lead. Like you and I, he's felt the sting of discrimination and knows how important it is to have someone step up and lead.
He should be leading. His staff should be carrying that message. Not that people who are victims of civil rights abuses are a fringe.
Oh, and in case you didn't know, it's *really* bad, since Pam isn't a half breed.
Not that your racism is going to care -- take your colorism and fold until sharp corners.
white gays and half breeds?
Being pissed off that the president we helped elect is breaking his promises IS NOT RACISM.
You're so ignorant it's almost laughable.
breaking his promises IS NOT RACISM"
No, it just makes you another left wing looney chump.
Chump, chumpty--chump--chump--duuhhhhh--chump.
You're already half way there guys....join the right side of history. ;)
Seriously you guys are pathetic racists.
Maybe I'm wrong but the 14th Amendmant was supposed to protect all Americans. Black, White, Gay, Straight, or "half-breed". All we're asking for as gay Americans is to be treated equally. To be able to get a job without being fired, to have the opportunity to give our partner healthcare benefits.
Your comments are deplorable, you make me sick.
You're the racist, fuck off back to whatever ignorant shithole you crawled from
Laugh. Out. Loud.
A new one, I'll give you that.
Cherilyn Sarkisian La Piere Bono Allman
Let me know when you find a real black gay critic who is calling Obama a failure. Again, what promise has he broken? If this were the last month of his presidency and he had yet to do anything I would call that breaking a promise.
This is typical from white people.
Get with the program!
I'm really sick of this crap that says that he can't eliminate DADT because of the economy. That's what he signed up for -- to tackle several issues at once. IF we have to wait until all the other problems in America are settled before we move on gay rights, then we might as well give up now.
I don't even think of him as a black man. He's just another screwed up politician- just like all the others. It's his supporters, who are so blinded by your kool aid high, that you seem to be unable to understand that Obama is not perfect. You keep bring up his skin color because you can't comprehend that there just might be another reason. Once again, you are wrong.
Don't give me this "i'm sipping kool aid" nonsense. I am black and know how racist white gays and whites in general are.
I don't see racism, I see a lot of black people blinded by Obama's blackness. He is my President and i have the right and, indeed, the duty to criticize.
Chitown Kev here for those who don't know me from other blogs and I am in Maine right now!
I do not have a blind loyalty to Obama as I have been upset about the public option but I realize that his presidency is in its infancy and am willing to give the brotha a bit more time. This whole "broken promises" nonsense is absurd given that he has only been in office MONTHS. Get back to me if by the end of his first term he hasn't done anything for gay rights. In the meantime I encourage folks to continue to make your voices heard and at some point Obama will have to listen.
You sound like the racist to me.
And you expect us to just hope that he is elected for a second term and sit quietly on our hands and dole out the cash and the support until then? What's the excuse going to be in his second term?
You may not have a blind loyalty to Obama, but you sure seem to have a blind loyalty to the "first black president."
Go to hell, lady.
Which do you honestly think is racist? Treating the president AS the president, regardless of the whole race issue, and holding him accountable for his promises and his actions...OR giving Obama a pass because he is "the first black president?" Really, how condescending is THAT?
Sorry. I donated a lot to the Obama campaign and I expect a lot from him. I CERTAINLY expect him to give some indication, other than pretty, pretty speeches, that he intends to make some concrete move to keep his promises to the LGBT community. We not only have a right to hold his feet to the fire, we have an obligation to do so.
Try not to be so hysterical.
"Teabagging Internet left fringe."
The Blue Dogs and their kin can just walk over to the Republican Party.
Blacks can even leave the party, at least on some level. The convenient thing about Voting Rights Act concentrated minority districts is that a third party at least theoretically could win those districts in a contest with the Democrats, by going to its left on economics and right on "moral issues". By running only in those districts (leaving statewide contests to the Democrats), a third party could put together a significant power base.
So, the priority list for elected officials in the Democratic Party is going to be the centrists, then the blacks, and only at the tail end the gays. Political leverage is entirely proportional to how plausible your threats of non-support are.
of course, gay rights were seen as less-important, if not counter-revolutionary, by the leftists but we chose to ignore that. now, here we are backed into a corner. obama's whitehouse is calling us a bunch of lefty nutbags, even while the prez is delivering more empty promises to the cocktail-party-going apologists. so where can we turn now ? apparently, to lady gaga. she likes us !! she really likes us !!! ..ugh.
Boo! (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)
So, maybe Cato and the Libertarians will have you. You'll be on the same side of the free market issues as the Right and still have those cute little social issues you so love in common with the wrong, I mean Left.
The Democrats were the ones against civil rights, except for Johnson, and when he needed to pass it, he made his case to the Republicans, and they voted for it. If you think Lincoln would have been on the D side in that debate, you're simply wrong.
As for Dixiecrats, they split from the Democrat party, and most (not all but most) of the Dixiecrat politicians went BACK to the Democrats.
I'm not the one with the revisionist history Cowboy, it's pretty obvious that you are.
Make your case for civil rights and do it calmly and respectfully, and the Republicans would listen.
Hell, if there were to be dropped a Civil Unions bill in the House today, most Republicans would support it. It's the Democrats who have been stalling you on this issue and making it impossible to move forward. The rhetoric from the LGBT community doesn't help when you're calling all of us racists and bigots and hateful, which I can only say is a classic case of projection on the Democrats and LGBT community.
There's no need for revisionist history, the facts are clear. Sorry they aren't on your side cowboy, but that doesn't mean you get to change them willy nilly and try to claim Lincoln as a Democrat.
They also will not yield on the Gay gene thing—they think they were born that way and all the evidence (or lack of) is not going to make any difference. This is where they believe their rights emanate from. I would concede it to them but most conservatives will not.
Would the Church of the Creator recognize an interracial union? Would the Catholic Church recognize a marriage to someone who is divorced??
No.
Fine and good and I defend their right to do (or not do) so.
Yet those marriages are recognized by the Government.
"Marriage" when referred to by the Government IS only a civil union.
What is talked about as "civil union" by legislators and judges is a base second class fraud. They only preside over the secular civil aspect of the contract between free people.
The church of Thomas Jefferson has been marrying gays together for 30 years. Is that good enough? If it isn't, does it have to be??
We are being crucified upon a cross of semantics. Not of Gold, nor Silver, but of base mendacity.
It isn't going to happen on the national level; your best shot is state by state and mostly in the courts.
We enact change and eventually conservatives come around to see the value in that change, and they quickly forget that their movement fought the implementation of said change like rabid dogs.
"In 1991, he joined The Wall Street Journal as White House correspondent, covering the administration of the George H. W. Bush. Later Harwood reported on Congress. In 1997, he became the Journal’s Political Editor and chief political correspondent." ~ http://www.cnbc.com/id/15838125/
Just wait till they really start attacking you... we got called teabaggers, I wonder what the MSM will call this new gay left fringe?
(FWIW - I support gay rights - I don't want my comments taken as something else)
It was very, very funny...
and when the democrats get power in the WH and solid majorities in both houses of congress, they operate from a default position of weakness. this is because they take their cue from the top: obama refuses to do anything because at heart, he is a coward who will use every excuse possible to avoid risk and shirk responsibility.
The quote, even if its reflecting more of the "conventional wisdom" going around DC rather than something that was actually said by an administration official, does reinforce the view that this will be a repeat of the Clinton years with lip service to organizations like HRC and pretty much ignoring rumblings from the "grass roots".
For all those folks at the march this weekend, how does it feel to be put on par with teabaggers by the DC media? Think it would help if the administration gave some kind of official statement about what they think about the march?
In no way am I undermining you.
Barney Frank said "don't march on Washington." Instead you and thousands of others exercised your constitutional right as you should have. You are entitled to have your voice heard and your concerns addressed.
However, the Obama administration in their own demented, childish ways now sees you as naughty children who must be reprimanded for not listening to pappa.
You may have won the election, but Obama's in the White House and Obama will do what Obama damn well pleases, or so he thinks.
Brace yourself, stand tall and stick to your guns because it won't be the last time this administration sticks it to you.
Internet left fringe? Right wing extremists? Do you see a pattern here?
Where do they get this stuff and who is getting paid in the administration to think this madness up. It is all about silencing your voice.
Keep on trucking. It is your right!!!!!!!!
When pressed for an answer about if she would vote to repeal DOMA, one Senator actually avoided answering the question several times. When finally pinned down, Senator Stabenow (D-MI) said it is a difficult issue since her state has a ban on gay marriage. Her thought is to establish "Domestic Partnerships" nationwide first, a half way measure at best. Even 40 years after Stonewall, it seems that middle America is finally waking up to the issue of LGBT rights. Those brought up - brainwashed, if you will - by the Religious Right continue to believe LGBT people are immoral at best, defective and a blight to be eradicated at its worst. As long as we have people like Congressman Steve King (R-IA) saying gay marriage will lead to Socialism, another asserting "sexual orientation includes being oriented to animals, children and dead people," we still have a long way to go to change the minds of our most backward thinking elected officials and their constituents.
Name the person, John H.!!!
The denigration of the gay protests strike me as much the same techniques as the right wind uses against Obama, throwing out negative images without intelligent dialogue.
I voted for Obama. I'm a Democrat. Unless the administration improves, no more votes from me. Here's another platitude, one that I will follow when asked to support Obama again: "Crazy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." And I'm not that crazy. Oh, for an LBJ!
The best shot the gay community has ever had. 10 months and you're bitchin'.
Tell him to put you to the top of his priority list. Bah, wars, economy, health care, the rest of it.
Nobody said to back off, but you guys sound like babies with tunnel vision.
Hey... it's not always about you.